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Vol. XI.

No. 9.

BOSTON.

Septemker, 1899.

WILLIAM CAMPBELL PRESTON. I. By Walter L. M1ller of the South Carol1na Bar.

IN studying the lives of great men, we naturally admire and instinctively honor those who have had to struggle with adver sity, — those who have built themselves up from the ground. The boy of humble parentage, deprived of the advantages which wealth and affluence give, with no family prestige, no influential friends to help him along — the boy who, in despite of all these disadvantages, forges his way to the front and wins for himself position and fame, we cannot help but admire. The self-made man commands our respect, our admiration, and our praise. We read with interest the ac counts of his early efforts to rise, we watch him as he surmounts difficulties, we sympa thize with him in his struggles, and we re joice at his success. A strange fascination attends the efforts of him '• Whose life in low estate began.

Who breaks his birth's invidious bar. And grasps the skirts of happy chance. And breasts the blows of circumstance, And grapples with his evil star."

And this is well. But, while this is the case — and it is to the credit of human na ture that it is so — we must not forget to honor those of distinguished lineage and possessed of all that wealth and family rank can give, who yet rise above temptation, spurn a life of idleness and luxurious ease, apply themselves assiduously to the demands

of duty, and by their own efforts uphold the family name and show themselves to be no ble sons of noble sires. To this latter class the subject of this sketch belongs. William Campbell Preston came of a dis tinguished family, both on the paternal and maternal sides. He belonged to the F. F. Vs. Through his veins flowed the best of blue blood. He was of Irish extraction. William Preston, his grandfather on the paternal side, was born in County Donegal, Ireland, in 1729. We are told that " he was the com panion of Washington in his expedition to the Ohio, and filled during his life many im portant trusts. He became colonel in 1775, and led his regiment at Guilford Court- House, where he received injuries that caused his death the following July." His son, Francis, the father of William C., was born in 1765. In 1792 he was elected a member of Congress from Virginia. Dur ing the same year, he married Sarah, the daughter of Colonel William Campbell of King's Mountain fame. Sarah was in fact the only child of her parents. Her mother was Elizabeth Henry, the sister of Patrick Henry, the Revolutionary orator and patriot, who gave expression to those noble words which have become historic, — "Give me liberty, or give me death!" Francis Preston is said to have been on terms of intimacy with Madison, Monroe, Jefferson, and ChiefJustice Marshall. We are also told that